Pinholes Filter Photons For Better 3D Holographic Displays

By placing a titanium film riddled with holes behind an off-the-shelf LCD display, scientists in South Korea found a straightforward way to produce holograms.

AsianScientist (May 3, 2019) – Researchers in South Korea have designed an ultrathin display that can project dynamic, multi-colored, 3D holographic images. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.

Devices for creating holograms have been limited by cumbersome techniques, high computation requirements and poor image quality. Seeking to improve on existing holographic technologies, researchers led by Professor Park YongKeun at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea, developed a display consisting of a thin film of titanium filled with tiny holes that precisely correspond with each pixel in a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel.

The film acts as a ‘photon sieve’—each pinhole diffracts light emerging from them widely, resulting in a high-definition 3D image observable from a wide angle. Notably, the entire system is very small; the researchers used a 1.8-inch off-the-shelf LCD panel with 1024 x 768 resolution. The titanium film, attached to the back of the panel, is a mere 300 nanometers thick. The team demonstrated their approach by producing a hologram of a moving, tri-coloured cube.

“Our approach suggests that holographic displays could be projected from thin devices, like a cell phone,” said Park, adding that this technique can be readily applied to existing LCD displays.



The article can be found at: Park et al. (2019) Ultrathin Wide-angle Large-area Digital 3d Holographic Display Using a Non-periodic Photon Sieve.

———

Source: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Photo: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Asian Scientist Magazine is an award-winning science and technology magazine that highlights R&D news stories from Asia to a global audience. The magazine is published by Singapore-headquartered Wildtype Media Group.

Related Stories from Asian Scientist